New Article on Accounts by Eric Silva

Abstract:
Little attention has been paid to how actors account for
controversial institutional conduct or contested practices. Relying
on a content analysis of letters to the editor, I explore how actors
operating in the Habermasian "public sphere" justify the
contested practice of linking Native American symbols with sports
teams, and suggest that in their rejection of challengers to their
definitions of the situation, authors create public accounts.
Consisting primarily of justifications rather than excuses, these
accounts are of four types: "denial of injury," "assertion
of benefit," "claim of authority," and "rejection
of challenge." For those who wish to conduct comparative
analyses of contested practices, these concepts may prove useful.